Contact Admin. These are external links and will open in a new window. The three Somali women sat huddled together in a corner of an empty, dusty room in a camp for displaced people in northern Somalia, their faces etched with grief and resignation. One of the women had a baby tied to her waist.
She had been attacked while trying to prevent her daughter from being raped. In the ensuing struggle, the attackers broke her husband's hand. I dared to ask if this child, no more than several weeks old, was the result of that rape.
But she told me the attack had taken place when he was a month old. Another of the rape victims said, somewhat aggressively, that she was always telling outsiders about the sexual abuse she had suffered - and that it did not make any difference to her situation.
However, she relented and spoke to me with quiet hatred of the six men who had not only raped but had also stabbed her. She showed me what she said were stab wounds on her limbs and forehead. These were brave women speaking out.
I cannot identify them in any way - nor can I give their exact location for fear of reprisals against them. Our conversation was interrupted by an irate policeman who was uncomfortable with them telling their stories to the outside world. Sex attacks against internally displaced women in such camps take place with impunity for the attackers. The women are far from their homes in the south and central parts of Somalia like Mogadishu, where the fighting is worst.
